June Update: When Bad Weather Hits Ecuador!
(Don't we Brits love to talk about the weather!)

I know that the UK has been experiencing terrible floods recently, well Ecuador has had it's fair share of bad weather in the last few weeks too. This has led me to be in the middle of landslides, bursting river banks, very high waters, and buses so crammed full that people were travelling on the roof!!

I smile now that I'm safe in my home in Quito, but the last week has been full of difficult decisions and situations that I haven't found easy. I have realised again just how new this all is to me, and the fast rate at which I am learning. My faith is being stretched in areas I never expected it to be... but isn't that the way of God?!

There is no doubt in my mind that the Oriente (jungle region) of Ecuador is my favourite place in the whole country. Yes the landscape is beautiful, but it is the gentleness and sincerity of the people there, especially of the indigenous, that has had such an influence on me over the last year and a half. I can't describe the privilege I feel of being able to work with them, even if it is only every so often.

This month I was to travel to the Oriente region to celebrate the end of year graduation in each of our PEPEs there. Ecuadorians love formality and ceremony so even pre-school children have the opportunity of donning a cap and gown at the end of the academic year!

However this month's journey to the jungle area proved particularly challenging. There are two roads from Quito to the Oriente and both are reasonable. However this last week both were taken over by horrific landslides, at one point it felt like the entire road was reduced to mud, water and random rocks. The army and police thankfully were out in force helping clear a passageway for the endless streams of traffic.

First difficult decision: To stay on the bus or not.

I appeared to be travelling with a wannabe 'Formula One' bus driver, who was determined to cross every landslide at a reckless pace. Traffic was queued up for miles as we waited for the rocks to be cleared, however our driver overtook all the queues and pushed himself to the front each time. I am quite accustomed now to crazy bus driving, but this was the closest I got actually getting off the bus and refusing to travel any further with a particular driver.

Second difficult decision: To travel in the canoe on high waters or not

One of the PEPEs is in Tena town, but two others are in indigenous communities in the jungle and are only accessible first by canoe and then by a walk on foot through the jungle. They are the most beautiful and awesome places and my soul experiences a deep peace and a touch of God whenever I am in these communities... however getting to them this time with the bad weather conditions, was a personal challenge for me.

Due to constant rain for weeks on end, river banks had burst in some parts and the waters were very high. High water means stronger currents, faster rapids and also more branches floating in the water which can break the motor.

I had listened to several people telling me how dangerous travelling in canoe can be when the waters are high, and me being me (with a fantastic imagination and a tendency to panic!) I was prone to worry about every implication possible. Pastor Jorge confirmed some of my fears by informing me that every canoe accident they had experienced had been when the rivers were very high. He then went on to give me a lesson of what to do if I found myself in the water in rapids or whirlpools!!

Learning on the job: My Ecuadorian boss had not been able to get through to the Oriente due to the landslides, and so I had to make the decision about what to do on my own. I was in a place where there was phone signal and so thankfully I was able to chat to some BMS colleagues, in my own language, to think through various options. Never had I felt so alone since I'd arrived in Ecuador. Many of you know how much I hate decisions anyway, but this one for me was particularly tough. There was certainly no 'bravery' in me, more a complete awareness of my own vulnerability and how scared I can get at the thought of danger and risk!

When a date is arranged with an indigenous community it has to be kept to as there is no means of contacting them to cancel. They prepare food ready to receive you, they have to walk from their community through the jungle, then travel in canoe for a distance, and arrive at the riverbank expecting you to be there as planned. I was well aware of this, as was Pastor Jorge whom I work with in the jungle region. To simply 'not turn up' was not an option, but Pastor Jorge was gracious in that he said he would go on ahead and that I wasn't to feel any pressure if I decided not to travel on the high waters.

When God steps in...
The words Pastor Jorge kept using the whole time were "Increible...tremendo" (No translation needed!!!) We really saw God step in in an amazing way, after so much continual rain, the days we travelled down river there was no rain at all, not even at night! We had what the indigenous described as 'an unheard of situation' for there to be no rain for three days in this part of the jungle at this time of year!!! But what it meant was that the height of the waters dramatically went down and it was very safe to travel.

I had contacted so many of you in the UK asking you to pray like mad that the rains would stop. Pastor Jorge's phrase the whole time was "The prayers of the English must be very strong!!" I can't tell you what peace and joy I found as we had yet another day without rain!

New path through the jungle...

One of the indigenous communities where there is a PEPE, Huachiyacu Chico, is an hour and a half's walk through the jungle. However due to the bursting riverbanks the path that we have taken before was flooded and impossible to use. The indigenous had therefore started to use an alternative path, however this wasn't so well marked as the other one!

I have never been so thankful and so full of respect for two women of the community, a mother of nine and a mother of twelve, who had taken it upon themselves to work the whole of the day before we arrived cutting back the fauna with machetes, making footholes in the steep muddy banks and placing wooden planks across certain boggy sections in this new route, so that we 'people from the city' would have a fighting chance to reach their community. I was so so grateful!

We ended up walking through the jungle in the dark, which was something I know we shouldn't have done (and boy did they set the pace fast so that we would get their quicker!) The snakes come out at night, thankfully I didn't see any snakes during the trek to the community, but the next day on our return home we passed a poisonous snake in the pathway. I was instructed how to kill it with a stone, but not surprisingly I left that job to the experienced indigenous!!!

The privilege of being in the indigenous communities...

For all my apprehensions about the landslides and the high waters I can honestly say that the privilege of being in these places is beyond words for me. I slept in the PEPE classroom again and in the morning found myself quite choked with emotion as I saw the children's work displayed on the walls and the activities that the teachers had done with their class.

I am learning in this job that the only successful method of changing teaching styles is to work alongside the teachers in the day to day classroom setting, trusting in the process of time. This of course isn't possible very often with our indigenous teachers who live so remotely. So when I saw some of the children's art work using natural jungle materials, as we had explored in a previous training session, I was quite overwhelmed. The teachers proudly explained how they had used some of the suggested activities with whole family groups, not just with the children. It was one of those moments that I will treasure.

Morning Wake Up Calls....

My first wake up was 3am when the women of the community arrived at the kitchen and started to prepare breakfast

My second wake up call was 5am when the pastor of the church started to practise a Quichua song on his guitar in the room next to where I was sleeping!

My third and final wake up call was 5.30am when the children of the community were standing at the window and door of my room, watching until I woke up!!!

Photos of the PEPE graduation itself in both indigenous communities, Alto San Miguel and Huachiyacu Chico

PEPE boys in their uniform all ready to graduate

The Ecuadorian government has introduced a pre-school education programme which is particularly strong in the jungle communities. Several of our PEPEs there had to close last year due to the introduction of the government programme. However in one community both the PEPE and the government programme have run side by side. In a meeting with the community president and the community primary school teacher, there was no doubt in their minds that the children who had had a year in the PEPE were much more advanced in their learning and better socially adapted as well. This is a real credit to the PEPE teachers and all their hard work with the children and parents and also is a real witness of the church in the community.

The church all ready to celebrate with the children

My well-used puppet from Altrincham days has gained a spanish name now! He appears at most graduations to congratulate the children

People of the city often look upon the indigenous with pity or with superiority. However I find myself full of respect for them. The indigenous are bilingual in both Spanish and Quichua; their sense of community and care for each other is something city people often lack; their family values are very strong and their faith in God is humble and sincere. I have learnt so much from our PEPE indigenous teachers and also from my short times in their communities.

Children in Huachiyacu Chico receiving pictures drawn by children of Cloverlea Primary School Reception Class

I want to end this blog by telling you about Pastor Ricardo. He teaches in the PEPE school in his community. Teaching a class of pre-school children every morning is not exactly a glamorous job for a community leader in a macho society, but the pride and sense of calling with which Pastor Ricardo described his work amongst these 4 and 5 year olds was unforgetable for me. The priority he gave to the children and their families really humbled me.

For those of you who pray...

For protection of the indigenous people who live down river here in Ecuador, that God would give them safety of travel in their everyday lives

Thanks for the sincere faith of these people, that the indigenous churches would be strengthened and encouraged, and be a light in their communities

For the indigenous PEPE children that they would continue to do well as they move on the the community primary school this September

For me in my life here that I would know God's peace and guiding more and more in decisions that I have to make, and that I would have the balance of spiritual discernment and wise risk assessment